A Friendly Face
by emotionandreason
Summary: Tulip feels so lonely in her store. Only little miss 101 brings in any adventure. Tulip/Lone Wanderer. I'm sorry it runs a little fast. I wrote it mostly on the train to college. Disclaimer: I own none of the characters portrayed.


Fallout 3 – Tulip x FLW (Lillian)

She stumbled into underworld outfitters, covered in the wasteland dust, Tulip perked up out of her musings at the young woman's arrival. It got so lonely down here and she barely got any business, more than Snowflake, but not by much.

The lone wanderer smiled brightly at the woman behind the counter and Tulip's stomach performed a strange flip at the welcome gesture. For several months now, the ghoul had found her thoughts wandering more and more towards the amiable vault girl that always made sure to pop in, just to say hi. Hardly anyone was friendly with ghouls; they were usually met with hostility and fear, not a sunny personality and unabashed kindness accompanied by a beaming smile.

The delightful Vaultie was one of a kind; it was almost unheard of to know of such a pleasant person in the wasteland.

"You're back." Tulip stated, trying hard to keep the excitement from showing in her voice.

"I always come back!" The Lone Wanderer chirped happily. "Who else would buy all of your shotgun shells? It's good to see you, how have things been?"

"Same old, same old. A little lonely perhaps, but nothing much has happened. How about you?" Tulip's eyes wandered over the dark-haired girl's face.

"Some scavenging here and there, nothing major," 101 replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder and giving another brilliant smile that could match the wasteland sun.

"Not if Three Dog's been telling the truth. Heard you helped out a boy called Bryan Wilks at Grayditch. I wouldn't call that nothing, Lil," the ghoul woman allowed the lone wanderer's name to roll off her tongue as naturally as possible. She had taken to muttering it to herself when no one was around.

"Yeah, well…" the vaultie trailed off with a sheepish grin accompanied with an embarrassed glance through her long black eyelashes that had Tulip's stomach performing acrobatics again. "I couldn't just leave him there like that… He had lost everything."

Tulip felt the mood slipping towards sensitive waters and quickly redirected the conversation. "So, um, got anything to sell?"

Lillian's face lit up once again and she began unloaded her heavy pack and laying out the scavenged odds and ends that she always had a knack for finding, while chattering away about how much she missed everyone while she was away. Tulip sighed happily in relief and immersed herself completely in the sound of the vault girl's voice.

Tulip awoke to the sounds of a scuffle above her room. It was a regular occurrence in the Ninth Circle. Normally Patchwork had overstayed his welcome so Charon would be made to deal with him. The twin shotgun bursts that followed shortly afterwards, however were not commonplace. A small squeak escaped Tulip's weathered lips and she leapt from herbed, ran to the door and flung it open to Winthrop's raised fist.

"Oh, so you did hear the shots," Winthrop said almost casually, his hand falling back to his side. "Ahzrukhal is dead. Charon shot him. The smoothskin bought his contract after seeing Patches in a state."

"What…?" Tulip's mind raced to comprehend what she just heard. "Is Lil okay?!"

"Yeah, the smoothskin's fine. But shit's hit the fan, the Ninth Circle is a mess. If you're not too busy, could you lend a hand? The vault girl could probably do with a friendly face in the middle of this chaos."

"Right… Yeah… Sure," Tulip followed Winthrop in a daze to the doors of the bar. Lillian was leaning against the wall next to the entry, arms crossed in a defensive stance, avoiding eye contact with the huge ghoul nearby. Charon stood with his usual stoic mask in place, scanning the area for possible threats.

"Got Tulip for you, smoothskin." The vaultie acknowledged Winthrop with a sharp nod but still kept her gaze on the tile floor. Winthrop cast his eyes back to Tulip before glancing over the intimidating behemoth of a ghoul and entering the chaotic bar.

"Well… umm… You want to come over to the shop while things calm down?" Tulip suggested.

Lillian finally gave up on her staring contest with the aged wood of the bannisters and met the female ghoul's concerned gaze. "Yeah… I just need to drop off some stuff at Carol's"

"Of course. I'll get some chairs and drinks ready."

101 turned and strode towards Carol's place with Charon in tow, leaving Tulip to wonder where to start in cheering the usually chipper vaultie up.

When Lillian arrived at the store, she practically fell into the chair unoccupied by Tulip and buried her face in her hands. Tulip looked over worriedly and offered her a choice of drinks. The drained girl looked up and chose the strongest beverage the older woman had. Tulip poured her the whiskey and her concern for the young girl only increased when the ex-vault dweller knocked back the shot and requested another immediately.

"What happened in there?" Tulip asked cautiously, lowering into the chair opposite.

The dark-haired girl raised her head and began her story. "I went in with the intention of buying Charon's contract anyway in a few days but when Patchwork was in need of help, Ahzrukhal just ordered Charon to throw him out. I could see that Charon hated being the errand boy of Ahzrukhal more than I hate Talon Company. So that was it. I decided, since I have the caps, why not? I paid the 1000 caps I managed to haggle down to and got the contract. The corrupt bastard told me I had the pleasure of telling Charon myself," The girl practically spat the word pleasure out as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. "So I did. I told Charon he was free from Ahzrukhal, the sleazy prick, and he shot him! Twice!"

Tulip saw the hysteria rising in her face but was frozen in her seat at the story. "What if he shoots me next?! I tried to free him, give him his contract for his own but he says it doesn't work like that, kid! So now I'm stuck! And what if I die and he ends up a slave again?! And…!"

Tulip could see this was escalating and intervened before the vaultie could have a complete meltdown. "Calm down, smoothskin, it'll be okay. Where did you leave Charon?"

"At Carols'. I needed some time to process what just happened."

"That's fine. Want to stay here tonight? I'm sure I can find an extra mattress somewhere," Tulip offered.

Lillian accepted meekly.

When the mattress was laid out on the floor, the two women were free to talk about everything and nothing. So they did. It was just what they both needed.

In the middle of 101 drunkenly regaling Tulip with her exploits in the vault, ranging from pulling pranks on Butch to hunting radroaches, the ghoul scanned the empty bottles beginning to line up and decided that they were both rather south of sober.

"We should sleep soon, Lil," she decided aloud.

Lillian pouted a little and complained jokingly, unaware of how Tulip's eyes had been drawn to the perfect curve of her lips and their soft dusty pink colour.

Tulip mentally shook herself and was reminded by a glance at her reflection in the bottles that Lil was beautiful and she was not. There was no way a girl like her could ever return her feelings. Tulip didn't even know if Lil even liked women at all.

As she wallowed in these negative feelings, a faint murmur caught her attention while she cleared away the bottles.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that," she apologised.

A light blush was forming prettily over the vaultie's cheeks. "I said, thanks for being here for me. I appreciate it."

"No problem, hun. We're friends. It's what friends do." The term friend felt strange in her mouth but if that's all there was hope for then Tulip was grateful all the same.

Lillian ducked her head forwards until her hair hid her face and the delicate blush that had spread over it. "Hey… Tulip? Could I ask you something?" She enquired nervously.

"You just did," the other woman teased, "but yeah, of course, go ahead."

"Have you ever thought of being more than friends…?"

"What?!" the word left her mouth before her brain had time to catch up as the bottles clattered from her arms.

101 flinched at the abrasive noise and ducked her head even further. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

"No, no, no," Tulip knelt in front of the girl and lifted her smooth face in her ruined hands until she could see the tears brimming in the surprised eyes of the younger woman. "Say that again… Please?"

"Umm… I… I asked if you had ever thought… about being… more… than… friends," Lil let a nervous giggle escape her.

Tulip couldn't believe what she was hearing. It felt like she was suffocating as it became difficult to remember to breathe. She looked deep into the dark eyes of the girl in front of her, searching for a sign that this was a cruel joke, or maybe a dream.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Lillian moving closer until her lips were over her own. Tulip's eyelids fluttered closed as soft plump lips moulded to her own dry, chapped ones. She let out a whimper at the feeling, prompting Lil to take advantage of her open mouth to deepen the kiss, wrapping her arms around Tulip as the ghoul fisted 101's vault suit she wore to sleep in rather than the bulky armour.

The younger woman moaned into the kiss as Tulip ran her hands down her curves, taking in how soft and pliant she was, even through the clothing.

Unsure of how far to take the moment, Tulip hesitated when her hands founds found themselves at the fastening of Lillian's vault suit. As if in answer to her unasked question, Lil reached up, momentarily abandoning mapping out Tulip's textured body with her hands and pulled the zip down before resuming her previous activity, all without breaking contact with Tulip's lips.

The older female took advantage of this wordless consent to truly feel Lillian everywhere. The taut stomach and strong arms from fighting in the wastes and the litany of scars that adorned her lover's body from the wasteland dangers. Tulip broke lip lock to take in Lillian's body and promptly decided that she was a work of art. A masterpiece.

Feeling a little exposed, Lil gathered up her vault suit which had fallen around her waist and stood, extending her free hand to Tulip as she gestured towards the empty bed with a movement of her head.

Tulip readily accepted the offered hand. Rather than leading her to the bed as she was expecting, the dark-haired beauty pulled her lover close and spun around so Tulip faced away from the bed and once again surprised the ghoul with an appreciated kiss. Tulip was so focused on the soft, pliant lips against her own, she almost didn't notice her own shirt being removed from her frame. She certainly didn't realise she was being guided across the room, until the back of her legs hit the bed. Her knees buckled and she fell ungracefully onto the mattress.

Before her eyes, Lillian rid herself of her suit and bared herself to the ghoul who couldn't help but stare. Her eyes traced Lillian's delicate shoulders and followed the curve of her torso until she reached the shapely legs of the girl in front of her, where a small dark patch of curls drew her gaze.

A short burst of giggles broke Tulip from her silent worship of the vault girl's body and immediately she felt her face heat up.

"See something you like?" teased the bold woman in front of her.

Tulip could only look away and stutter in embarrassment. That was until the Vaultie sashayed her hips and sauntered towards the bed. The manner of movement made Tulip's breath catch and she waiting, full of anticipation.

A hand on her chest gently pushed Tulip to lie on the bed, while her lips were occupied by the smoothskin. She was so focused on mapping Lillian's body by touch that she was caught off guard when the rest of her clothing was removed. Suddenly self-conscious, Tulip retracted her hands from the pleasant exploration they had been enjoying to cover her own body. Her wrists were quickly shackled by the others hands and held gently by her sides.

Tears welled up in her eyes and Tulip turned her head to the side. "Don't look…" she whispers hoarsely.

Lillian's eyes widened in surprise. "Tulip… You're beautiful," came the reverent reply.

Tulip violently shook her head. A blatant lie was never a compliment. She knew she wasn't beautiful. The most she could hope for was acceptance. "No, please. Don't lie."

"I'm not! Tulip, I'm not lying!" Lillian whispered urgently. "You may not be conventionally beautiful, but to me… You… Umm" A bright blush spread across her cheeks. "To me… you are truly attractive… especially in personality."

Tulip felt her hand being guided by Lillian's smooth fingers to the junction of the alluring woman's thighs. A gasp escaped her at the silky wetness that coated her hand. A shy smile graced the vault girl's face from the awe evident on the others face.

Wrenching memories of her own experiments through her cotton-filled brain, Tulip dipped her fingers into Lillian's entrance. Rewarded with a gasp, she searched for the spot that would bring the most pleasure. A second light gasp encouraged her and aided her search. With an apologetic smile, Lillian carefully grasped and guided Tulip's hand in her preferred method. Embarrassment was the first thing that took over, but hearing the noises that she was bringing forth from the picture of beauty before her soon dissipated that feeling and allowed her confidence to soar.

Lillian shook violently under the ghoul's ministrations and a disappointed sound escaped her when Tulip's hand ceased its movements but she was pleasantly surprised when the older woman shuffled down and replaced her hand with her mouth.

The vault girl's head dropped back as her hands tangled in the remains of tulip's hair as she fell over the edge of the precipice she had been balancing on. A shaky moan fell from her lips. The ghoul lapped at the vaultie's entrance as she came down from her high. Tulip smiled wickedly up at the girl who still shook from her climax.

Lillian returned the smile with a glint in her eyes which spelled trouble for her lover. She slid down the bed to match Tulip and proceeded to return the favour of satisfying the other.

Several hours later the two lay entwined in each other's arms, caressing the others body, punctuated with chaste kisses.

"So, what are we then?" Tulip asked cautiously, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Well, I was hoping we were a couple now," Lil answered sleepily. "You okay with that?"

"Yes," the ghoul answered simply, filled with an indescribable happiness.

"Good," Lillian snuggled into the crook of Tulip's neck while Tulip ran her hands up and down her now girlfriend's back. The pair drifted off together, wrapped in each other's arms.


End file.
